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Across the plains and foothills of central Africa are dotted buildings that, from a distance, appear to resemble sheep sheds.

Although most are used as schools and community rooms, the buildings, with their corrugated steel roofs and Yorkshire board cladding, will be familiar to any Welsh farmer.

Which is hardly surprising, as they were built and gifted to poor communities in Africa by the Welsh agricultural community in an effort led by – among others – Conwy farmer Llyr Jones, 37.

For the past decade Llyr and his trusty lieutenants Elen Lloyd and Lowri Williams have organised annual mercy missions to disaster-struck regions of the world, sinking bore holes and building schools using money donated by rural communities in North Wales.

The charity, “Cam wrth Gam”, has since resulted in 400 children getting an education, 1,300 people getting clean water and 300 children getting food cooked for them every day.

Llyr’s overseas efforts – and his contributions back home – have now seen him crowned the 2016 NFU Cymru / Principality Welsh Rural Community Champion.

All of which has left him feeling a little awkward. “I get a great deal of satisfaction out of doing the work, much more than any award can reflect,” he said.

“Besides, others such as Elen and Lowri have done just as much as me, probably more, while the groups of volunteers we take with us do all the hard work. And we couldn’t do it without the generosity of the people of North Wales.”

Llyr celebrates his Welsh Rural Community Champion award with his dog Ginny (Image: Robert Parry Jones)

Supporting his community in North Wales

Llyr's Community Champion award also reflects his efforts closer to home at Derwydd farm, Llanfihangel GM.

Having sat on the parish council since 2004 – he’s a former chairman – he organises an annual bonfire night event and provides a Christmas tree for the village every year.

Llyr also arranges an annual on-farm sports day for the Uwchaled area. The It’s A Knockout-style event uses scrap materials found on the farm and employs some pretty irreverent ideas, from a communal wool sack race to a find-a-ball-in-straw event.

Increasingly, however, the June sports day is falling foul of Heath & Safety directives and Llyr’s own family commitments.

“One event used to involve a tip-up grain trailer full of Fairy Liquid – the idea was to time how long each group could remain in the trailer before sliding out,” said Llyr. “We’re having to be more careful now!”

Last June he married equine vet Emma, and was persuaded to move the event to August, and he faces a similar dilemma this year now that their first child is due on June 13.

As well has his community work – he also supports local charities, and has raised more than £40,000 – Llyr has the farm to run, something he has done since the age of 19 after his father fell ill.

He runs 1,200 Welsh ewes and with two colleagues founded Blodyn Aur, Welsh rapeseed oil, in 2010.

Blodyn Aur rapeseed oil produced by Llyr on his farm at Derwydd

2004 tsunami prompted Llyr's overseas work

A member of the Agri Academy and a Tesco Future Farmer, it is his early commitment to farming that perhaps fueled his annual travels as he got older.

His first trip was to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, when Llyr and group of friends shipped a steel-framed cow shed to stricken country for use as a school. When the shed got held up in Customs, rather than sit idly waiting for it to arrive, the group promptly built a small wooden school in another village.

“I don’t know much about building, but I do know how to build sheep sheds!” said Llyr.